16 Shots: Behind Shocking Movie on Illegal Police Shooting | Movie

TThe grainy video of the dash-cam itself: October 20, 2014. The time code indicates that there are only a few minutes before 10 pm and the headlights of the police car illuminate the street. Called on the scene to respond with a taser backup system to a dazed boy crossing a truckyard carrying a knife that was entering cars, the car finally stops. In the middle of the street, his back to the camera, a young black man is walking in haste, apparently trying to avoid something. He turns slightly, almost as if he had decided to walk backwards. Then suddenly, he falls, shot. On the ground, the pixelated images do not show the fifteen bullets about to pierce his body, which will result in his death, but sometimes there is a puff of smoke coming out of his body, betraying the hidden impact of deadly projectiles . There, in the middle of the street, south of Chicago, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald dies, killed 16 times in 15 seconds by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who had just returned home. arrive six seconds before unloading. . He would later claim that he feared for his life when McDonald rushed at him, although the video shows no such thing.

These fatal strikes sparked a decisive four-year civil rights battle that, in the end, exposed Chicago politics and became the basis of the new 16 Shots documentary. The film, written and directed by Academy Award-nominated director Rick Rowley, tells the story of the murder of McDonald's and the city around it. He documents the consequences of the murder: slow media coverage, growing tensions, and anxiety that accelerates the heart with almost certain implosion. Almost immediately, he plunges the viewer into the story of two cities: one animated by anguish born of injustice and the other refusing to give up control and accept responsibility, offering a candid look at the thought machine gears, including activists, prosecutors, former police and even eyewitnesses to the murder.

Jamie Kalven, a journalist who had written about history, informed Rowley about the subject shortly after the video was released. At the time, it had already been handed over to the family, who was under an injunction not to disclose it further, and activist Will Calloway and the lawyer's rights 39, man, Craig Futterson, forced him to enter the public. Although no one knows, this action would change Chicago, overthrowing city-wide institution officials and ushering in a flood of change for the Midwestern city. That's what former Cook County prosecutor Anita Alvarez said in the film: "It was a tsunami that I certainly could not stop."

But for Rowley, the murder of McDonald's was a unique opportunity to show the unfolding of a system that protects against sanctions for wrongdoing. He told the Guardian that he saw the opportunity to explore a tragedy too long undermined by the shadow of political institutions. "America is in the middle of this kind of calculation," he said. "I mean, race is this knot of blood at the center of the American experience for 300 years. Sometimes it's more visible and sometimes it's less visible, but right now these struggles around race and violence are surfacing everywhere. The police fired on a series of shots that shook our whole speech about the criminal justice system. This case is at the heart of this nightmare. We know more about the murder of Laquan McDonald than any other shot by the police in history … We thus have the opportunity to paint a judicial portrait of the type of system that makes these cases disappear. "

At the heart of 16 shots is the fight for responsibility. Before the broadcast of the video, the silence prompted by the police department, prosecutors and the mayor silenced the case, trying to maintain order under the pretext of peace. Even after the publication of Kalven's article and the signing of a $ 5 million settlement with the McDonald family, not many people paid much attention to it. "At every stage of this process, everything works in support of the official narrative," says Kalven in the film. "The machines continue to work. Until this is dramatically, almost cataclysmic and mysterious, it is not the case. Even Rowley and the team behind the documentary were victims of the system's code of silence, the Chicago mayor's office having refused to speak, restricting their list of topics, and even preventing filmmakers from incorporating material into public events. While he insists that these blocks do not stop, Rowley was surprised. "The incredibly insular nature of this situation was shocking to see," he said.

Unlike the city, 16 Shots is as transparent as possible, even in the most horrific details, like murder. The video is shown in full in the movie. Current prosecutor Kim Foxx commented on the tears of her heartbreaking content. Many dispute the decision to share the video with a wider audience, as this could promote the desensitization of the black death. Rowley readily admits that this is not something that is done lightly, declaring to the Guardian: "We have formulated it in such a way that we hope to have as much humanity and dignity as possible. "wanted to be as human as possible towards the victim." Our rule is always that, when there are moments of death, you must treat them with as much humanity and tenderness as possible, so as not to to make another image, "he said," Kim Foxx allows us to do this because she contextualizes this in a very human way. "

As seen in the film, the publication of the video triggered the battle for a criminal trial against Van Dyke. During the four-year limbo between the murder and the final verdict, the city dismissed police chief Garry McCarthy and state prosecutor Anita Alvarez, who then spoke frankly to the filmmakers of their removal. Rowley says it simply: "There are telling moments in these times of disruption." While they saw it as an badault on their livelihood, city activists saw it in a completely different light. different, chanting "Two men killed, only one leaving!" militants seeking justice for McDonald, it was a necessary step in the right direction.However, in its history, Chicago had never charged or charged a police officer. guard for the murder of anyone, let alone a black man.The extent of the situation was lost to anyone on either side of the conflict, as shown in the movie. "Futterman said" C ' was historic. "For some, like activist Charlene Carruthers, it was a victory for David and Goliath." Heads rolled with this lawsuit, "she said," Heads rolled with this verdict. they continue to roll in. We did so, so what else is possible? ble now? "

Rowley believes that the unprecedented response to this case was related to a number of factors. "It's a combination of so many things at every stage of the process, from individual bravery on the part of the whistleblower and the civilian witnesses to what seems like a bizarre bureaucratic mistake that has released the family video." , did he declare. "On the one hand, you see in the movie all the steps of the process used by the system to remove these cases. On the other side, you see every moment that someone steps forward and disrupts this process and that dozens of people have done it along the way. "

Although the subject is difficult and sometimes furiously blinding, Rowley hopes that the film will highlight the importance of citizenship, even for those who want to turn away. "I hope that for some people, like me, this movie will make them pause for a moment before turning the page after reading the police report of another shoot like this" , did he declare. "And for others, it is the image of a four – year struggle that has caught the public 's attention and the pressure of the community and who has managed to break that wall of silence built around these cases. " He thinks that everyone is involved in maintaining a Responsible System: "I think we all have a responsibility to tackle these issues. There is not a big city in America that does not address the issues it raises. "